What is a billion?

Diplomats and financiers have accustomed us to counting in billions. But do you really realize what a billion represents? Instead, ask various people around you how long it would take them to write a billion zeros. The answers will vary: "A day, fifteen hours, eight days!"
Now, to write, and at a good speed, a billion zeros, it takes at least fifty years, a human existence. Do the math: one can hardly write, properly, more than 125 to 130 zeros per minute. At eight hours a day and 25 days a month, that makes 20 million per year. It would therefore take, as we can see, fifty years to complete the task. This is a record that has not been attempted!